In the Wake of a Storm...

Wow. The weather and news channels are wiping everything else off the slate to provide coverage for Hurricane Irene, where it "could" or "might" cause trouble for us here in the Susquehanna Valley. And, looking at where the storm is tracking, it's very likely we'll see something from it.

I grew up near a golf course ~ across the street, behind the neighbor's yard, you could see part of a tee. During Hurricane Gloria back in the eighties, I remember seeing full grown trees blowing roots-over-crown like tumbleweeds down the fairways beyond that tee. They ended up caught in the tree line and/or fence, so none of them blew on to the major street, except right at the edge. There wasn't a tree line at that stretch, but when we walked over to survey the damage, all those tumbleweeded maples and oaks were on top of the cars at the limo service.

Trees blown over (and over) were part of the problem there; in other places, the trees that stayed rooted and held their ground prevented hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not millions) of further damage from occurring.

Hard to tell what's going to happen when the winds start blowing.

Once the winds stop, it's time to assess the damage and clean things up.

Green Man Enviroscaping LLC can help with the cleanup, whether it's as simple as raking up leaves or as involved as removing fallen trees.

In the aftermath of a serious storm, with numerous damage sites, we would take a staged process to the cleanup:

If there are any downed wires in or around the tree, they would need to be handled by the utility that owns them before we can work in the area ~ power would need to be turned off, at the least.

Our first step would be to clear paths ~ whether a road, driveway, or even a front walk ~ to allow for safe passage. We would work to get your house or business open, and to allow you to use your property without worrying about further damage as things shift and settle.

At that point, depending on the severity of the storm and our call volume, we might move on and repeat that first step for our other clients.

The next step would be to further cut down fallen trees and limbs. There are several options here ~ we generally have to cut to make the pieces easier to carry, but we can:

1. Cut and stack them on-site for firewood
2. Cut them and pile them for decomposition on-site
3. Haul them away
4. Chip and shred them into a pile for compost or future use as mulch

If we bring in a chipper, we can generally do less slicing and dicing to prepare for that step, and would likely schedule that work for a few days to as much as a week after the storm.

You can see some before shots of damage we've dealt with from a large section of fallen tree limbs ~ due to high winds and a lightning strike ~ here. Although we can clear limbs and trees from cars, if your fallen tree is on or hanging over your house, we recommend that you check out the ISA's Trees Are Good website and find a certified arborist ~ we keep our feet on the ground, while they climb around trees and have bucket trucks to reach a bit higher than we can, and, more importantly, our insurance allows for cleanup work and tree removal in open areas, while theirs will cover work around structures and wires.

While we hope you don't need our help for any issues caused by this hurricane ~ or any other storms ~ if you do need us, please contact us. Of course, if the power's already out, you might not be able to read this when you need it, so you may want to write down our phone number to have it at hand when the storm hits: 610.442.7964. As long as the storm doesn't take out too many cell phone towers (or their power supplies) we will be able to take your call!